“Some of the shells hit the AMISOM compound, while others landed in the ocean,” he added.
He said the attacked base was the fortified Halane base in the Somali capital Mogadishu, by far the largest AMISOM military base in Somalia.

Around 200 suspected Al-Shabaab members were rounded up in Mogadishu earlier on Sunday.
Maalin said the shelling came from the direction of Wajid district, southwestern Somalia.

It was not immediately clear whether anybody was killed or injured in the attack.

Somalia has remained in the grip of on-again, off-again violence since the outbreak of civil war in 1991.

Earlier this year, the country appeared to inch closer to stability after government troops and African Union forces – deployed in the country since 2007 – drove Al-Shabaab group from most of its strongholds.

At least 15 people were killed in clashes Saturday between government forces and members of the Ahlu Sunna Waljama’a (ASW) militia in the city of Dhusamareb in Somalia’s central province of Galguduud, a government official has said.

He said the fighting erupted late Friday when Ahlu Sunna militants captured the neighboring town of Gureel from government forces.

“Dhusamareb is now under the control of the Somali National Army. We will soon capture the rest of the towns,” he said.

Ethiopian troops based in Dhusamareb did not participate in the fighting, according to the Somali government.

Ahlu Sunna leaders could not be reached for comment.

Ahlu Sunna Waljama’a is a Sufi militant group that controls several areas in central Somalia and is known to fight against al-Shabaab militant group.

Though Ahlu Sunna supports the Mogadishu government, the group accuses it of marginalizing the group.
The latest round of fighting between government forces and Ahlu Sunna militants has been triggered by a disagreement regarding the formation of the new state of Galgadud.

The fighting is likely to delay a planned convention of delegates in Dhusamareb to pave way for the formation of the state to be headed by a president in accordance with the Somali federal constitution

Somalia has remained in the grip of on-again, off-again violence since the outbreak of civil war in 1991.

Earlier this year, the country appeared to inch closer to stability after government troops and African Union forces – deployed in the country since 2007 – drove the Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabaab group from most of its strongholds.

Kenya must win a battle against militant ideology that is seeping in from its northern neighbour and spreading to Muslim youths at home if it is to stop Somali Islamists extending their reach in east Africa.

After two attacks in 10 days by Somalia’s al-Shabaab group that killed more than 60 people, President Uhuru Kenyatta vowed to step up his “war on terror” to halt raids across the porous border and stop any dream of making an Islamic Caliphate.

In Somalia, he can point to military gains where Kenyan and other African troops have retaken territory from al-Shabaab, but he faces a more stubborn enemy on home soil where security forces are trying to drive out militancy from mosques.

“The only language these kafirs [non-Muslims] can understand is the bullet from the AK-47 rifle,” a Kenyan preacher told worshippers at Mombasa’s Mina mosque last month before police shut it down – with three others – detaining about 100 youths.

Tough tactics
Such tough tactics may temporarily silence the radical voices but it also fuels anger that helps militants find new recruits and deepens the home-grown threat, Muslim activists say.

This is where al-Shabaab may have a trump card. While it has been driven out of major Somali strongholds, a military offensive in Somalia has not stopped the group spreading its ideology and finding enough loyal foot soldiers for attacks that need little more than dedication to the cause and a few rifles.

Cohorts of frustrated and often jobless Muslim youths in the sweltering port city of Mombasa and along the coast, where most Kenyan Muslims live, offer fertile ground for the Islamists.

Firebrand sermons
“The government needs to sit down and understand these people,” said Hussein Khalid of Haki Africa, a group that works to promote dialogue with Muslim communities. “It always wants to use force and this merely pushes people away.”

Alarmed by sermons of firebrand imams and radicalised youths emerging from mosques in Mombasa, police have in the past month shut four places of worship and made mass arrests. This has been done before but not on such scale.

“We want to arrest the situation from spilling over to other mosques,” said Mombasa County police commander Robert Kitur.

Al-Shabaab said it launched recent raids partly to punish Kenya for such acts of “aggression” and promised to continue.

Losing territory in Somalia has not prevented al-Shabaab exploiting its guerrilla skills. It may even free up resources.

Deepening worries
“Now they are not ruling such large chunks of Somalia, they no longer have to pay for a shadow government,” said a diplomat. “You can mount an insurgency for really not very much money.”

Deepening worries for the authorities is a video posted on YouTube this week with an address by Ahmad Iman Ali, a Kenyan believed to head al Hijra, the local branch of al-Shabaab. He promised to target “non-believers” to avenge the suffering of Muslims in Mombasa, where Ali studied under a radical preacher.

“Wait and see, it is just a matter of time,” Ali said as a group of men toting AK-47 rifles shouted: “Bullets and daggers have created warriors. Let us spread this to all mosques.”

In 2007, Ali and his young supporters took over a Nairobi mosque, creating a hotbed of militancy. Radicals have done the same in Mombasa, defying repeated police crackdowns.

“It has never worked anywhere in the world,” Ali Hassan Joho, Mombasa County Governor, told Reuters of his concerns about police strategy. “This is an ideological battle, therefore you cannot win it in any other way besides engagement.”

Living in fear
Such worries are not yet turning into action. Haki Africa’s Khalid said meetings between officials and the Muslim community had thrashed out strategy but there had been no “concrete meetings to confirm or at least agree on how to roll that out.”

Rattled by border raids in the north and other al-Shabaab attacks this year along the coast, Kenyatta urged the Muslim community to help root out Kenya’s militant “collaborators”.

But many moderate Muslim preachers have been cowed. In November, Sheikh Salim Bakari Mwarangi, who supported moves to stamp out radicalism, was shot dead by unknown assailants. Another moderate leader was killed in June.

“There is a very big sense of fear and people think it’s not worth challenging these [radical] people,” said Mudhar Khitamy, coast chairperson of the Supreme Council of Kenyan Muslims.

When Mombasa’s Mina mosque was shuttered, about a dozen young men chanting “Allahu akbar”, or “God is greatest”, marched through the street and hacked to death a Christian shopkeeper.

Kenya needs rethink strategy, said a Western diplomat: “They’re not reaching the population they are trying to reach.”

Syrian troops have repelled an attack by militants from the Islamic State (IS) group on a key military airport in the eastern Deir Ezzor province, a monitoring group said on Sunday.

“Troops and pro-regime militia stopped the attack that IS launched on the Deir Ezzor military airport,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, adding that both sides suffered heavy losses in the fighting.

The militants had withdrawn to the edges of the base, a day after managing to seize a southeastern part of the complex, it said.

The Observatory said more than 100 militants had been killed in fighting for the base since Wednesday, when they launched an operation to try to take the airport.

Pro-regime forces also suffered heavy casualties, with some 59 troops killed, it said.

State news agency SANA said Syrian army units had “repelled an attempt” by IS fighters to attack positions at the base, but provided no further details.

The Deir Ezzor air base is a key regime outpost from which warplanes and helicopters mount raids on militant positions in several areas of the war-wracked country.

IS fighters control most of Deir Ezzor province, but half of its capital remains in government hands.

The oil-rich province lies between IS-controlled Raqa province and the border with Iraq, and is a key prize for the militant group which declared an Islamic “caliphate” straddling the two countries in June.

Source: Tribune Pakistan

Kenya must win a battle against militant ideology that is seeping in from its northern neighbour and spreading to Muslim youths at home if it is to stop Somali Islamists extending their reach in east Africa.

After two attacks in 10 days by Somalia’s al Shabaab group that killed more than 60 people, President Uhuru Kenyatta vowed to step up his “war on terror” to halt raids across the porous border and stop any dream of making an Islamic Caliphate.

Kenya must win a battle against militant ideology that is seeping in from its northern neighbour and spreading to Muslim youths at home if it is to stop Somali Islamists extending their reach in east Africa.After two attacks in 10 days by Somalia’s al Shabaab group that killed more than 60 people, President Uhuru Kenyatta vowed to step up his “war on terror” to halt raids across the porous border and stop any dream of making an Islamic Caliphate.

Kenya needs to win war of ideas to stop Islamist advanceKenya
must win a battle against militant ideology that is seeping in from its
northern neighbour and spreading to Muslim youths at home if it is to
stop Somali Islamists extending their reach in east Africa.
After
two attacks in 10 days by Somalia's al Shabaab group that killed more
than 60 people, President Uhuru Kenyatta vowed to step up his "war on
terror" to halt raids across the porous border and stop any dream of
making an Islamic Caliphate.
In Somalia,
he can point to military gains where Kenyan and other African troops
have retaken territory from al Shabaab, but he faces a more stubborn
enemy on home soil where security forces are trying to drive out
militancy from mosques.
"The only language
these kafirs (non-Muslims) can understand is the bullet from the AK-47
rifle," a Kenyan preacher told worshippers at Mombasa's Mina mosque last
month before police shut it down - with three others - detaining about
100 youths.
Such tough tactics may
temporarily silence the radical voices but it also fuels anger that
helps militants find new recruits and deepens the homegrown threat,
Muslim activists say.
This is where al
Shabaab may have a trump card. While it has been driven out of major
Somali strongholds, a military offensive in Somalia has not stopped the
group spreading its ideology and finding enough loyal foot soldiers for
attacks that need little more than dedication to the cause and a few
rifles.
Cohorts of frustrated and often
jobless Muslim youths in the sweltering port city of Mombasa and along
the coast, where most Kenyan Muslims live, offer fertile ground for the
Islamists.
FIREBRAND SERMONS
"The
government needs to sit down and understand these people," said Hussein
Khalid of Haki Africa, a group that works to promote dialogue with
Muslim communities. "It always wants to use force and this merely pushes
people away."
Alarmed by sermons of
firebrand imams and radicalised youths emerging from mosques in Mombasa,
police have in the past month shut four places of worship and made mass
arrests. This has been done before but not on such scale.
"We want to arrest the situation from spilling over to other mosques," said Mombasa County police commander Robert Kitur.
Al Shabaab said it launched recent raids partly to punish Kenya for such acts of "aggression" and promised to continue.
Losing territory in Somalia has not prevented al Shabaab exploiting its guerrilla skills. It may even free up resources.
"Now
they are not ruling such large chunks of Somalia, they no longer have
to pay for a shadow government," said a diplomat. "You can mount an
insurgency for really not very much money."
Deepening
worries for the authorities is a video posted on YouTube this week with
an address by Ahmad Iman Ali, a Kenyan believed to head al Hijra, the
local branch of al Shabaab. He promised to target "non-believers" to
avenge the suffering of Muslims in Mombasa, where Ali studied under a
radical preacher.
"Wait and see, it is
just a matter of time," Ali said as a group of men toting AK-47 rifles
shouted: "Bullets and daggers have created warriors. Let us spread this
to all mosques."
In 2007, Ali and his
young supporters took over a Nairobi mosque, creating a hotbed of
militancy. Radicals have done the same in Mombasa, defying repeated
police crackdowns.
"It has never worked
anywhere in the world," Ali Hassan Joho, Mombasa County Governor, told
Reuters of his concerns about police strategy. "This is an ideological
battle, therefore you cannot win it in any other way besides
engagement."
LIVING IN FEAR
Such
worries are not yet turning into action. Haki Africa's Khalid said
meetings between officials and the Muslim community had thrashed out
strategy but there had been no "concrete meetings to confirm or at least
agree on how to roll that out."
Rattled
by border raids in the north and other al Shabaab attacks this year
along the coast, Kenyatta urged the Muslim community to help root out
Kenya's militant "collaborators".
But many
moderate Muslim preachers have been cowed. In November, Sheikh Salim
Bakari Mwarangi, who supported moves to stamp out radicalism, was shot
dead by unknown assailants. Another moderate leader was killed in June.
"There
is a very big sense of fear and people think it's not worth challenging
these (radical) people," said Mudhar Khitamy, coast chairman of the
Supreme Council of Kenyan Muslims.
When
Mombasa's Mina mosque was shuttered, about a dozen young men chanting
"Allahu akbar", or "God is greatest", marched through the street and
hacked to death a Christian shopkeeper.
Kenya needs rethink strategy, said a Western diplomat: "They're not reaching the population they are trying to reach."
Kenya
must win a battle against militant ideology that is seeping in from its
northern neighbour and spreading to Muslim youths at home if it is to
stop Somali Islamists extending their reach in east Africa.
After
two attacks in 10 days by Somalia's al Shabaab group that killed more
than 60 people, President Uhuru Kenyatta vowed to step up his "war on
terror" to halt raids across the porous border and stop any dream of
making an Islamic Caliphate.
In Somalia,
he can point to military gains where Kenyan and other African troops
have retaken territory from al Shabaab, but he faces a more stubborn
enemy on home soil where security forces are trying to drive out
militancy from mosques.
"The only language
these kafirs (non-Muslims) can understand is the bullet from the AK-47
rifle," a Kenyan preacher told worshippers at Mombasa's Mina mosque last
month before police shut it down - with three others - detaining about
100 youths.
Such tough tactics may
temporarily silence the radical voices but it also fuels anger that
helps militants find new recruits and deepens the homegrown threat,
Muslim activists say.
This is where al
Shabaab may have a trump card. While it has been driven out of major
Somali strongholds, a military offensive in Somalia has not stopped the
group spreading its ideology and finding enough loyal foot soldiers for
attacks that need little more than dedication to the cause and a few
rifles.
Cohorts of frustrated and often
jobless Muslim youths in the sweltering port city of Mombasa and along
the coast, where most Kenyan Muslims live, offer fertile ground for the
Islamists.
FIREBRAND SERMONS
"The
government needs to sit down and understand these people," said Hussein
Khalid of Haki Africa, a group that works to promote dialogue with
Muslim communities. "It always wants to use force and this merely pushes
people away."
Alarmed by sermons of
firebrand imams and radicalised youths emerging from mosques in Mombasa,
police have in the past month shut four places of worship and made mass
arrests. This has been done before but not on such scale.
"We want to arrest the situation from spilling over to other mosques," said Mombasa County police commander Robert Kitur.
Al Shabaab said it launched recent raids partly to punish Kenya for such acts of "aggression" and promised to continue.
Losing territory in Somalia has not prevented al Shabaab exploiting its guerrilla skills. It may even free up resources.
"Now
they are not ruling such large chunks of Somalia, they no longer have
to pay for a shadow government," said a diplomat. "You can mount an
insurgency for really not very much money."
Deepening
worries for the authorities is a video posted on YouTube this week with
an address by Ahmad Iman Ali, a Kenyan believed to head al Hijra, the
local branch of al Shabaab. He promised to target "non-believers" to
avenge the suffering of Muslims in Mombasa, where Ali studied under a
radical preacher.
"Wait and see, it is
just a matter of time," Ali said as a group of men toting AK-47 rifles
shouted: "Bullets and daggers have created warriors. Let us spread this
to all mosques."
In 2007, Ali and his
young supporters took over a Nairobi mosque, creating a hotbed of
militancy. Radicals have done the same in Mombasa, defying repeated
police crackdowns.
"It has never worked
anywhere in the world," Ali Hassan Joho, Mombasa County Governor, told
Reuters of his concerns about police strategy. "This is an ideological
battle, therefore you cannot win it in any other way besides
engagement."
LIVING IN FEAR
Such
worries are not yet turning into action. Haki Africa's Khalid said
meetings between officials and the Muslim community had thrashed out
strategy but there had been no "concrete meetings to confirm or at least
agree on how to roll that out."
Rattled
by border raids in the north and other al Shabaab attacks this year
along the coast, Kenyatta urged the Muslim community to help root out
Kenya's militant "collaborators".
But many
moderate Muslim preachers have been cowed. In November, Sheikh Salim
Bakari Mwarangi, who supported moves to stamp out radicalism, was shot
dead by unknown assailants. Another moderate leader was killed in June.
"There
is a very big sense of fear and people think it's not worth challenging
these (radical) people," said Mudhar Khitamy, coast chairman of the
Supreme Council of Kenyan Muslims.
When
Mombasa's Mina mosque was shuttered, about a dozen young men chanting
"Allahu akbar", or "God is greatest", marched through the street and
hacked to death a Christian shopkeeper.
Kenya needs rethink strategy, said a Western diplomat: "They're not reaching the population they are trying to reach."
Kenya
must win a battle against militant ideology that is seeping in from its
northern neighbour and spreading to Muslim youths at home if it is to
stop Somali Islamists extending their reach in east Africa.
After
two attacks in 10 days by Somalia's al Shabaab group that killed more
than 60 people, President Uhuru Kenyatta vowed to step up his "war on
terror" to halt raids across the porous border and stop any dream of
making an Islamic Caliphate.
In Somalia,
he can point to military gains where Kenyan and other African troops
have retaken territory from al Shabaab, but he faces a more stubborn
enemy on home soil where security forces are trying to drive out
militancy from mosques.
"The only language
these kafirs (non-Muslims) can understand is the bullet from the AK-47
rifle," a Kenyan preacher told worshippers at Mombasa's Mina mosque last
month before police shut it down - with three others - detaining about
100 youths.
Such tough tactics may
temporarily silence the radical voices but it also fuels anger that
helps militants find new recruits and deepens the homegrown threat,
Muslim activists say.
This is where al
Shabaab may have a trump card. While it has been driven out of major
Somali strongholds, a military offensive in Somalia has not stopped the
group spreading its ideology and finding enough loyal foot soldiers for
attacks that need little more than dedication to the cause and a few
rifles.
Cohorts of frustrated and often
jobless Muslim youths in the sweltering port city of Mombasa and along
the coast, where most Kenyan Muslims live, offer fertile ground for the
Islamists.
FIREBRAND SERMONS
"The
government needs to sit down and understand these people," said Hussein
Khalid of Haki Africa, a group that works to promote dialogue with
Muslim communities. "It always wants to use force and this merely pushes
people away."
Alarmed by sermons of
firebrand imams and radicalised youths emerging from mosques in Mombasa,
police have in the past month shut four places of worship and made mass
arrests. This has been done before but not on such scale.
"We want to arrest the situation from spilling over to other mosques," said Mombasa County police commander Robert Kitur.
Al Shabaab said it launched recent raids partly to punish Kenya for such acts of "aggression" and promised to continue.
Losing territory in Somalia has not prevented al Shabaab exploiting its guerrilla skills. It may even free up resources.
"Now
they are not ruling such large chunks of Somalia, they no longer have
to pay for a shadow government," said a diplomat. "You can mount an
insurgency for really not very much money."
Deepening
worries for the authorities is a video posted on YouTube this week with
an address by Ahmad Iman Ali, a Kenyan believed to head al Hijra, the
local branch of al Shabaab. He promised to target "non-believers" to
avenge the suffering of Muslims in Mombasa, where Ali studied under a
radical preacher.
"Wait and see, it is
just a matter of time," Ali said as a group of men toting AK-47 rifles
shouted: "Bullets and daggers have created warriors. Let us spread this
to all mosques."
In 2007, Ali and his
young supporters took over a Nairobi mosque, creating a hotbed of
militancy. Radicals have done the same in Mombasa, defying repeated
police crackdowns.
"It has never worked
anywhere in the world," Ali Hassan Joho, Mombasa County Governor, told
Reuters of his concerns about police strategy. "This is an ideological
battle, therefore you cannot win it in any other way besides
engagement."
LIVING IN FEAR
Such
worries are not yet turning into action. Haki Africa's Khalid said
meetings between officials and the Muslim community had thrashed out
strategy but there had been no "concrete meetings to confirm or at least
agree on how to roll that out."
Rattled
by border raids in the north and other al Shabaab attacks this year
along the coast, Kenyatta urged the Muslim community to help root out
Kenya's militant "collaborators".
But many
moderate Muslim preachers have been cowed. In November, Sheikh Salim
Bakari Mwarangi, who supported moves to stamp out radicalism, was shot
dead by unknown assailants. Another moderate leader was killed in June.
"There
is a very big sense of fear and people think it's not worth challenging
these (radical) people," said Mudhar Khitamy, coast chairman of the
Supreme Council of Kenyan Muslims.
When
Mombasa's Mina mosque was shuttered, about a dozen young men chanting
"Allahu akbar", or "God is greatest", marched through the street and
hacked to death a Christian shopkeeper.
Kenya needs rethink strategy, said a Western diplomat: "They're not reaching the population they are trying to reach." Kenya must
win a battle against militant ideology that is seeping in from its
northern neighbour and spreading to Muslim youths at home if it is to
stop Somali Islamists extending their reach in east Africa.Kenya must
win a battle against militant ideology that is seeping in from its
northern neighbour and spreading to Muslim youths at home if it is to
stop Somali Islamists extending their reach in east Africa.

The Lebanese army, backed by a drone, pounded militant hideouts Saturday on the outskirts of the northeastern town of Arsal, the National News Agency reported.

Using heavy artillery fire, soldiers attacked militant gatherings in Al-Dib on the outskirts of Arsal, the state-run agency said.

The army’s attack comes days after a military patrol unit was ambushed on the outskirts of Arsal, leading to the death of six soldiers Tuesday. A day later, a military expert was killed while he was defusing a bomb found in the same area.

The Lebanese military has been the target of militant attacks including fighters from Nusra Front and ISIS who accuse the Army of unlawfully cracking down on Syrian refugees and coordinating with Hezbollah.

Source: albawaba.com

Kenya must win a battle against militant ideology that is seeping in from its northern neighbour and spreading to Muslim youths at home if it is to stop Somali Islamists extending their reach in east Africa.

After two attacks in 10 days by Somalia’s al Shabaab group that killed more than 60 people, President Uhuru Kenyatta vowed to step up his “war on terror” to halt raids across the porous border and stop any dream of making an Islamic Caliphate.

Kenya must win a battle against militant ideology that is seeping in from its northern neighbour and spreading to Muslim youths at home if it is to stop Somali Islamists extending their reach in east Africa.After two attacks in 10 days by Somalia’s al Shabaab group that killed more than 60 people, President Uhuru Kenyatta vowed to step up his “war on terror” to halt raids across the porous border and stop any dream of making an Islamic Caliphate.

Kenya must win a battle against militant ideology that is seeping in from its northern neighbour and spreading to Muslim youths at home if it is to stop Somali Islamists extending their reach in east Africa.After two attacks in 10 days by Somalia’s al Shabaab group that killed more than 60 people, President Uhuru Kenyatta vowed to step up his “war on terror” to halt raids across the porous border and stop any dream of making an Islamic Caliphate.

Kenya must win a battle against militant ideology that is seeping in from its northern neighbour and spreading to Muslim youths at home if it is to stop Somali Islamists extending their reach in east Africa.

Read more at:http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/45402523.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppstThe Lebanese army, backed by a drone, pounded militant hideouts Saturday on the outskirts of the northeastern town of Arsal, the National News Agency reported.
Using heavy artillery fire, soldiers attacked militant gatherings in Al-Dib on the outskirts of Arsal, the state-run agency said.
The army’s attack comes days after a military patrol unit was ambushed on the outskirts of Arsal, leading to the death of six soldiers Tuesday. A day later, a military expert was killed while he was defusing a bomb found in the same area.
The Lebanese military has been the target of militant attacks including fighters from Nusra Front and ISIS who accuse the Army of unlawfully cracking down on Syrian refugees and coordinating with Hezbollah.
The Lebanese army, backed by a drone, pounded militant hideouts Saturday on the outskirts of the northeastern town of Arsal, the National News Agency reported.
Using heavy artillery fire, soldiers attacked militant gatherings in Al-Dib on the outskirts of Arsal, the state-run agency said.
The army’s attack comes days after a military patrol unit was ambushed on the outskirts of Arsal, leading to the death of six soldiers Tuesday. A day later, a military expert was killed while he was defusing a bomb found in the same area.
The Lebanese military has been the target of militant attacks including fighters from Nusra Front and ISIS who accuse the Army of unlawfully cracking down on Syrian refugees and coordinating with Hezbollah.
The Lebanese army, backed by a drone, pounded militant hideouts Saturday on the outskirts of the northeastern town of Arsal, the National News Agency reported.
Using heavy artillery fire, soldiers attacked militant gatherings in Al-Dib on the outskirts of Arsal, the state-run agency said.
The army’s attack comes days after a military patrol unit was ambushed on the outskirts of Arsal, leading to the death of six soldiers Tuesday. A day later, a military expert was killed while he was defusing a bomb found in the same area.
The Lebanese military has been the target of militant attacks including fighters from Nusra Front and ISIS who accuse the Army of unlawfully cracking down on Syrian refugees and coordinating with Hezbollah.
The Lebanese army, backed by a drone, pounded militant hideouts Saturday on the outskirts of the northeastern town of Arsal, the National News Agency reported.
Using heavy artillery fire, soldiers attacked militant gatherings in Al-Dib on the outskirts of Arsal, the state-run agency said.
The army’s attack comes days after a military patrol unit was ambushed on the outskirts of Arsal, leading to the death of six soldiers Tuesday. A day later, a military expert was killed while he was defusing a bomb found in the same area.
The Lebanese military has been the target of militant attacks including fighters from Nusra Front and ISIS who accuse the Army of unlawfully cracking down on Syrian refugees and coordinating with Hezbollah.

The convention’s Article 5.3 “was not designed to give the authorities the opportunity to intensify their investigations for the purpose of bringing formal charges against the suspects”, a court statement said.

The judges argued that the time between their arrest and transfer to France was already enough for France to draw up charges, instead of delaying for another 48 hours.

Court judgements are binding on signatories to the convention.

The judges did not challenge France’s right to arrest the pirates inside Somali territory, under UN anti-piracy rules.

At least four people were killed in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu on Wednesday when a suicide bomber rammed a car packed with explosives into a UN convoy, police said.

The convoy of armoured vehicles were reportedly ferrying staff between Mogadishu’s heavily-fortified airport and a protected UN base in the city when it was hit close to the airport gate.

The attack was not immediately claimed, but both the airport and the UN mission have been frequently targeted in the past by Somalia’s Al-Qaeda-affiliated Shebab rebels, who are fighting to overthrow the country’s internationally-backed government.

“The bomber drove in between the security escort and the UN armoured vehicles and detonated the car, ramming into one of the escort vehicles,” police officer Mohamed Liban told AFP.

“I saw four dead people so far, but the casualties are believed to be more, we are still investigating the incident and there is chaos in the area,” Liban added.

A dark plume of smoke was seen rising high in the sky after the large blast, which was heard across the seaside capital.

Witnesses said the UN convoy consisted of four armoured vehicles escorted by private security personnel driving in pick ups.

“The explosion was very big and there is smoke all around the area, I can hardly see people lying on the ground, either dead or wounded, but it is difficult to go nearby as police are blocking the road,” said Shamso Idle, a local resident.

The attack appeared to be a repeat of a Shebab operation in February, when six people — Somali guards, passers-by and shop owners — were killed in a suicide attack on a convoy carrying UN staff near the airport.

A number of foreign diplomatic missions are based inside the huge airport complex, which has also been used to house a number of UN staff since a city-centre UN compound was attacked by the Shebab last year.

The airport zone is also the base of the 22,000-strong African Union force fighting the Shebab.

Shebab fighters once controlled most of southern and central Somalia, but have been driven out of fixed positions in Mogadishu and most major towns by the AU force.

Shebab leader Ahmed Abdi Godane was killed by a US air strike in September. He has since been replaced by Ahmad Umar Abu Ubaidah.

The group have carried out a string of high profile attacks in Mogadishu this year, including against the presidency, parliament and intelligence headquarters.

Shootings and car bombings are also a regular occurence in the city.

The Shebab have also stepped up operations in Kenya, and on Tuesday massacred 36 non-Muslim quarry workers in a Kenyan border town.

In the small hours of December 2nd gunmen snuck up on a group of sleeping quarry workers in Mandera country, close to Kenya’s border with Somalia. They were rounded up and made to lie face-down on the ground. Thirty-four of the men, who make a pitiful living mining and breaking stones, were executed with a bullet to the head; two were beheaded; all were non-Muslims.

Ten days earlier in the same remote part of Kenya gunmen flagged down an early-morning bus. Each passenger was asked to recite a verse from the Koran and to respond to a Muslim greeting. Those who failed were shot in the head. Twenty-eight people, many of them teachers going home for the Christmas holidays, were killed.

The Shabab, the militant Somali group affiliated with al-Qaeda, which is strengthening its foothold in Kenya, said it carried out both massacres.

The attacks underscore Kenya’s state of dire insecurity and inability to come to grips with the Shabab, either in the countryside or in key cities. The militant group had already struck the capital in an assault on the Westgate Mall in which at least 67 people were killed in September 2013.

But this was merely the most prominent of at least 136 terror attacks that have taken place since 2011, when Kenyan soldiers were sent into Somalia to help push back the Shabab. Most have been small-scale: a grenade tossed at a bus stop or a volley of bullets fired into a church, but the group’s ability to mount more complex attacks seems to be improving.

The Shabab’s focus has shifted somewhat from Somalia, where it has lost control of towns to Kenyan and other forces operating under an African Union banner and where key leaders have been killed in American air or drone strikes. In Kenya it is seeking to drive a wedge between already divided Christian and Muslim communities.

At Westgate the four gunmen made patchy efforts to separate Muslims and non-Muslims, and in the end killed many of both. It was a blow at the heart of the Kenyan state. Members of the elite, including a nephew of President Kenyatta, were massacred in a mall that symbolised Kenya’s growing wealth. By contrast the killings in Mandera and Mpeketoni, where at least 60 people were killed in June, probed at the poor and neglected edges of the country.

Nigeria, at the other end of Africa, offers a case-study in what happens when the persistent low-level ravages of an Islamic insurgency are ignored. Boko Haram’s attacks there have brought the legitimacy of the state into question. The Shabab’s recent actions betray similar tactics.

Since Kenya’s independence some 60 years ago, mostly-Christian communities in the north have jealously held power and money. Generations of neglect and marginalisation of Kenya’s Muslim and Somali communities, combined with the easy cross-border flow of extremists and deepening domestic inequality, have created a reservoir of angry, excluded young men ripe for recruitment by jihadists.

Kenya’s capacity for catastrophic inter-communal strife was borne out in the wake of the 2007 elections, when more than 1,100 people were killed in politically-motivated tribal violence. Now the Shabab is trying to prise apart another of Kenya’s fault lines.

The primary vehicle for extremism in Kenya is al-Hijra, an affiliate of the Shabab whose leader, Sheikh Ahmed Iman Ali, lives in Somalia. According to Matt Bryden, director of Sahan Research, a Nairobi-based think-tank. “Al-Hijra has been slowly but steadily growing in strength and capability, and increasingly represents a domestic threat in its own right.”

Moreover the state appears to be exacerbating the problem with heavy-handed tactics. In the days before the Mandera bus attack Kenyan police raided a series of mosques in the coastal town of Mombasa. About 200 people were arrested and four mosques were shut down. Police displayed hand grenades, pistols and knives they said were seized inside the mosques.

The local response was outrage from Muslim community leaders and human rights activists, and then an angry rampage by Muslim youth in which three people were stabbed to death.

The subsequent bus attack, claimed a spokesman for the Shabab, was an act of revenge for the mosque raids. He also reiterated a demand that Kenya withdraw its troops from Somalia, where 3,700 soldiers serve, and promised more attacks. “This is a war between Muslims and non-believers,” he declared.

The group’s former “emir”, Ahmed Godane, had made a similar ateempt to stir sectarianism in Kenya with one of his last audio messages before being killed in an American air strike in September. Godane addressed Kenyan security operations in which ethnic Somalis were rounded up and deported, presenting the Shabab as defenders of both the faith and the people. The killings in Mandera indicate that new leader, Ahmed Umar Abu Ubaidah, is sticking to Godane’s strategy.

The vengeful tit-for-tat of this fitful war is set to continue. Within hours of the Mandera bus attack Kenya’s army said it had pursued and killed the attackers. It then launched retaliatory air strikes on suspected Shabab camps across the border. Hours after the quarry massacre President Uhuru Kenyatta said that “we will not flinch in this war against terrorists” and replaced his embattled interior minister and police chief.

A military response is expected but Kenyans are wondering why their government and security forces always seem to be a step behind.